Ken Feinberg has a pretty good idea how "rough justice," as he calls it, should be done for the victims of the July 20 Aurora movie-theater shooting.

The end of much of the turmoil and confusion surrounding the $5 million Aurora Victim Relief Fund could come by mid-November, said Feinberg, the fund's special master. He has served as paymaster for most of the highest-profile American crises since 9/11 and has broad experience in assigning a dollar amount to suffering.

A timeline, announced by Gov. John Hickenlooper's office Monday, has Feinberg meeting with groups of victims and families Oct. 11 and 12
, and then, on Oct. 15, announcing the protocol for distributing funds.

All claims to the relief fund must be in by Nov. 1. Feinberg will hold private, one-on-one talks with victims and their families Nov. 1-9. He'll make final payment determinations and disburse monies as quickly as possible after Nov. 15.

"It's rough justice — no money in the world can bring people back or make someone injured whole," Feinberg told The Denver Post in a telephone interview. "The money just means a little less financial insecurity. It should come with no strings."

The governor's office on Monday also announced deadlines for any new donations to the fund — Oct. 15 for online gifts through the website GivingFirst.org and Nov. 15 for contributions by check (sent to the governor's office).

In the days and weeks after the mass murder, the fund quickly swelled to more than $5 million as small and large private contributions poured in. Gifts included a reportedly sizable yet undisclosed amount from Warner Bros. Pictures, which released the "The Dark Knight Rises" — its midnight premiere in Aurora was the scene of the shooting that claimed 12 lives and injured at least 58 people at the Century Aurora 16.

Hickenlooper recruited Feinberg when frustration with management of the Aurora Victim Relief Fund boiled over into anger and accusations.

Victim fund rareIt's only $5 million, not nearly enough to provide all the help that's needed, he said, yet it's unusual for a fund to exist at all.

"Bad things happen to good people every day in Colorado," Feinberg said. "Not everybody has a fund. It's a tribute to this community, really."

Many tragedies, he said, such as Hurricane Katrina, countless tornado strikes and the Oklahoma City bombing, didn't result in large enough pools of private funds to provide direct monetary relief to those affected.

Hickenlooper co-founded the fund with Community First Foundation, but within a few weeks a group of victims complained about a lack of transparency and responsiveness to their needs.

They expressed disappointment with the governor, the foundation and the 7/20 Recovery Committee, a cross-section of community members making recommendations on payments from the fund.

"There is no scandal. But it has been a long, slow, messy process," said Methodist minister Reid Hettich, a 7/20 Recovery Executive Committee member. "There is no real change of direction with Feinberg, just a change in process. He's a bottom-line, let's-get-this-thing-done kind of guy."

Hettich said Feinberg will take "a lot of pressure off" the committee, which still has a big role to play in seeking and overseeing other resources, including federal grants, to help the entire Aurora community recover.

Feinberg said the Aurora mass murder, among the many crises he's dealt with, from BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill to the Penn State sex-abuse scandal and the federal bailout of corporations, is most similar to the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech shooting, where $7 million was raised after a gunman killed 32 faculty and students and injured 17 others before killing himself.

Personal side difficultIn the case of Virginia Tech, Feinberg said, families of those killed received $180,000 each; the injured received sums based on length of hospital stays; and students who were eyewitnesses to the massacre each received $10,000
.

Feinberg said what he does is simple — any number of people could divide the money. What's hard, he said, is meeting people face to face and hearing the stories.

"It takes a toll," Feinberg said. "You're dealing with people who went to the movies and confronted that sort of carnage."

Donations can be made through Oct. 14 to the fund through Community First Foundation's website GivingFirst.org. Money can be donated to the fund until Nov. 15 by sending a check to the Aurora Victim Relief Fund, c/o Governor's Office, 136 State Capitol, Denver, CO 80203.

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